Political structure

Official name

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Form of state

Executive presidency based on the French model

The executive

The president is head of state, with executive powers. According to the 19th amendment to the constitution, passed in April 2015, the president is elected for a five-year term by universal suffrage, and may dissolve parliament only after four and a half years have passed since the start of the first session of the current parliament. The president may serve a maximum of two five-year terms

National legislature

Unicameral legislature; the 225 members are directly elected for five years (changed from six years prior to the 19th amendment to the constitution) using a system of modified proportional representation

Local government

Under the 13th amendment to the constitution, passed in 1987, extensive powers are required to be devolved to nine directly elected provincial councils with a view to meeting Tamil demands for greater autonomy; however, the amendment has not yet been fully implemented. The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has majorities in all the provincial councils except the Northern provincial council

National elections

A presidential election was held in January 2015 and a parliamentary election in August of that year. The next presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in 2020

National government

Maithripala Sirisena was elected president in January 2015, defeating Mahinda Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP, the main component of the UPFA), who had ruled since 2005. Following the August 2015 parliamentary election, the United National Party (UNP) formed a so-called national-unity government with the SLFP